"The Sikh is not a Hindu or a Muslim; he is the disiciple of the One Eternal Guru of the world, and all who learn of Him are truly Sikhs and must not corrupt His teachings with the confused utterances of men, who live among them and around."

"Sikhism is no disguised Hindu sect, but an independent revelation of the one Truth of all sects; it is no variant of Muslim teaching, save in that it too proclaims the love of God and the need for men to hold Him always in their heart. It too is a distinct religion like the other great religions of the WORLD."

Gospel of Peace According to Guru Granth Sahib (The World Gospel Series)

That the Sikh Faith originated in India, or Hindustan, the name given to the subcontinent by the Iranians, is beyond question. Sikhism is, therefore, an 'Indic' religion by origin.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are 'Semitic', or Middle Eastern, religions by origin.

However, Sikhism has much less in common with Hinduism than Islam, Christianity and Judaism have in common with each other. All three Semitic faiths share a common origin from the Prophets Abraham and Moses.

Christians have incorporated the Judaic scripture, the 'Old Testament', into the Bible as distinct from the 'New Testament' of Jesus Christ. Muslims accept the prophets of the Old Testament as well as Lord Jesus Christ, though they do not accept him as 'son of God'.

Scriptures

In contrast, Sikhs reject the authority of all the Hindu scriptures, including the 'Vedas', which are the Hindus' equivalent of the Old Testament, the Gita and the Hindu epics like Ramayna. To Sikhs the Hindu scriptures are great literature, part of a hoary past.

The 'Guru Granth Sahib' is the only canon, which connects Sikhs to the Word of God - the sole object of a Sikhs' worship.

Caste system

Sikh Gurus rejected the caste system, which is the core constituent of Hinduism.

Caste inequality is still a fact of life in India. The caste system, as legislated by the laws of Manu, the great Hindu law giver whose injunctions governed Hindu society for two thousand years, is a process of social engineering developed by the less than 5% highest-class Brahmin minority to keep 85% of the population in perpetual bondage as low castes and untouchables.

Legal disabilities flowing from caste inequality were diluted by the Hindu Code Bill of 1956 and by the changes wrought by the twin processes of industrialization and urbanization in modern India.

Notwithstanding the dilution, the enormous havoc of a system of perpetual, inequality has suppressed Hindu India's human development. With an abysmal showing, India enters the 21st century noticeably behind the Buddhist countries that did not accept the Hindu view of social organization.

Intermediation

The primacy of the Brahminical priestly class is at the core of Hindu religion whereas there is no priestly class per se in the Sikh faith. Among Hindus no religious event in a man's life can be conducted without a Brahmin priest who, unlike any other religion in the world, must come from this hereditary caste. On the other hand a Sikh need never deal with a priest from birth to death. Any Sikh, man or woman, can preside over any religious function.

Idol Worship

Idol worship is one more important part of the Hindu faith, which the Sikh Gurus rejected totally and unambiguously.

In 'Zafarnama', his famous communication to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh (in corporeal form, Guru Granth Sahib the Sikh holy book being the eternal Guru), calls himself the 'idol breaker'.

Chastising Aurangzeb, the Sunni, self professed orthodox king, for hypocrisy and inequity, Guru Gobind Singh's letter was a reference to the alliance that the emperor had made with the idol worshipping Hindu hill rajas (princes). The hill rajas were inveterate foes of the Sikhs who rejected caste hierarchy and worship of Hindu gods.

Those not familiar with, or oblivious to, the history of Sikh struggle in the Mughal times, need to remember that in almost all the battles that Guru Gobind Singh had to fight, the Hindu hill chiefs were always his foes whether or not the mughal emperor's forces were in the fray.

In summary

The Sikh Gurus before Guru Gobind Singh had also faced determined opposition from Hindu orthodoxy who felt threatened by a new, revolutionary faith that was subversive of the primacy of the Vedas, the pantheon of Hindu gods, the primacy of hereditary brahmin priestly order, the institutionalised inferiority of women, untouchability and caste hierarchy.

Against the background of outright rejection of most fundamental beliefs and institutions of Hinduism by the Sikh Gurus it is difficult to understand, much less accept, the assertion that the Sikh faith is an offshoot or reformist version of Hinduism.

One can only guess that what impels the present day Hindu Nationalists to assert the logically indefensible arises not from religious sensibility, but from the needs of their political agendas and a desire for cultural hegemony in the Indian subcontinent.

Those Sikhs who wish to accept loose assertions in expedient conciliation with a dominant and increasingly aggressive majority should, honestly and happily, go over to the Hindu fold.

In Duncan Greenless' words it would be a betrayal of the Guru to "corrupt His teachings with the confused utterances of men, who live among them and around."

The path of Sikh faith goes over the sword's edge, walking it is hard without His grace.